Sun, Moon, and Stars
by Polaris'05
Summary: Dean, the sun... bright and burning. Sam, the moon... mysterious, shadowed. Castiel, the stars... so far out of reach, ever on the brink of falling. A character study.


_A/N: Hi guys! This is my first Supernatural fic, just a little vignette. LOVE the show, and love the stories I see on here from so many talented and creative writers! This little character study was inspired by a post I saw on Pinterest, not sure of the original source, that was really a picture of our three favorite guys that had them labeled as you see here: Dean, the sun. Sam, the moon. Castiel, the stars. I loved the imagery and decided to expand on it. ^_^_

_I don't own the guys, or I'd certainly treat them better than Kripke does! =P J/k, Mr. Kripke. Sort of. _

_Anyway, thanks, and leave a review if you like!_

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Dean, you see, is like the sun.

He burns. He burns so hot, so bright. Like a solar flare, he may heat up at any possible moment, taking those around him unawares. In a world of darkness, he shines. Dean shines his strongest when surrounded by the dark – _that _is when you see him, _that _is when you can see how bright he burns.

That is when you might even have to close your eyes… perhaps he burns too brightly, too hotly. Perhaps you had better pray it is not against you that his vengeance burns.

Dean, you see, is like the sun. Get too close, and maybe you'll burn, too. But how many would love to just bask in that glow, even knowing the danger of that heat? Demons, though, they don't have the option of backing away. Demons will burn, and Dean, the sun, will be the one to burn them. The shadows cannot hide from his light, because Dean will find and reveal that which cowers in the dark.

The sun, bright and shining, the overcomer of darkness. That is Dean. The sun. Fiery and sharp, and he himself has been burned as well.

But the sun does more than burn, and so does Dean. Dean is a nurturer, though he'd prefer to think of himself as a hunter, a warrior. But, like the sun, he's more than just blazing fire and powerful energy. Without the sun, things could never grow. Without Dean, what would his little brother have ever been? It was Dean who nurtured Sammy, it was the warmth of his sunlight taking care of his little brother that held their broken family together.

It was Dean, and his sun-like, nurturing ways, that gave Sammy the last bowl of cereal even if Dean wanted it; it was Dean who tried to give Sammy a Christmas, it was Dean who turned his back on his one chance out because he saw Sammy and knew his place was protecting him. Dean, and his warm, glowing rays, wrapping around Sammy like a summer's day, like a bright patch of sunshine.

Dean, surrounding his little brother with his light, protector, a shield of warmth and strength… a light that would never go out.

Dean, the nurturer. Dean, the blazing and burning sun, scorching those who underestimate his power. Get too close, demons… get too close, and see what happens when you play with fire. See what happens when the sun catches you in its gravity, pulls you in… and burns you.

Dean's spirit seems bottomless, unfathomable, but one day, even the sun may burn out. But when it does… when a sun dies… it doesn't just die. Oh no, a sun never just quietly disappears.

No, when a sun dies, it _explodes_. It becomes a supernova, blinding,_ brilliant_, a sign across the galaxy for _all _to see, for all to know, that this death was not of one quietly giving in. Like a fighter, going out in a blaze of glory.

Dean would like that… _"shot down, in a blaze of glory"_.

Dean, you see, is like the sun.

SPN SPN SPN

Sam, now, is more like the moon.

So bright, sometimes the only sign in the night sky at all. Never with the same _fire _as his brother, but infinitely more mysterious. What part of Sam's life hasn't been shrouded in mystery? The moon calls forth images of loneliness, the sound of a lone wolf howling its lonesome, heartbroken cry into the emptiness of the night.

Doesn't it sound like Sam… listen to the lone cry. Doesn't it sound like Sam? Whose heart has not been broken by the tragedy of his life? How much must he lose, how lonely must he become, the lone wolf shrouded in mystery? What is real? What is false? For Sam walks in the night, and shadows walk with him, following his footsteps, dancing out of reach of his pale beams. Sometimes, the shadows hide in the moonlight, whispering from behind the forest trees, watching from the corners.

Sam… he's more like the moon. Dark, mysterious, but hardly soulless, in the end. The moon might seem like a cold, uncaring rock, but stand back and really look… in truth, it's beautiful, even majestic. A prince.

Because Sam, see, will live there in the darkness of the night, enduring the shadows for the sake of all those who can then use his light to illuminate their own paths in the dark hours when there is no other light to be had.

Some might think, mistakenly, that he cannot burn as bright as Dean, that he would be the easier to target. Fools… the moon might wax and wane while the sun remains steady – and doesn't Sam? Dean is steadfast, stubborn, but Sam seems to come and go, to rise and fall – but do not think that this makes him safe to take on.

See, here's the thing. The moon shines because of the sun (_Sam shines because of Dean) _It is a reflection of the sun's light, when it comes down to it (_It is Dean's light that gives Sam the ability to shine)_. The moon's light, in the end, is really the sun's light, stored and collected and treasured and then beamed back to the world as a gift when the world is darkest, it is the sun at midnight.

The moon shines because of the sun… but it has its own power, one that enemies may not understand.

They may not know, they may not realize, that like drawing a demon from a vessel, the moon draws the very tide to the shore.

Perhaps the moon's _light _is the sun's, but the moon's power is its own… and the moon can move the very _oceans_.

Like Sam. Because Sam, he's more like the moon.

SPN SPN SPN

If Dean and Sam are the sun and moon, then Castiel is the stars.

Funny thing, stars. Sometimes, you don't even know they're there. Sometimes, you can't see them at all. Sometimes, they're hidden, hidden by the brightness of day, hidden by clouds at night. Sometimes, you don't even know the stars shine at all, because you can't see them there, but they never left. In fact… they were there first. They will be there after. Like Castiel. Always watching, always present, even if he can't be seen.

The stars, how they dance in the sky! See their spark, see their vitality and the pureness of their joy of all creation! Castiel can appreciate creation… his Father's creation, all the way back to the fish that crawled from the ocean. He treasures it, protects it, revels in it, watches it all from high above.

If Dean is the sun, Castiel is the stars. The sun IS a star, you know. Perhaps it seems like the biggest of all, dwarfing the other stars in the sky, but that is only because the stars themselves are too distant from us to really see in perspective; we cannot reach them with our soles planted on the Earth. But the stars are just as immense – indeed, even _more _immense than our sun.

Like bursts of light, Castiel attacks. Here, there, everywhere, his angel blade flashes with the light of the stars as he slashes down his enemies, blinding them with the brightness of his own inner star!

But the thing about stars… the thing about stars is… sometimes, stars fall.

Stars, streaming down to Earth, a flash across the sky, so swift that to blink would be to miss it at all. Castiel has fallen, more than once, and yet still the stars shine in the sky. Always, there are stars. Castiel's light never goes out, because a single fall – even two, or more – cannot rid the sky of stars. A single fall – even two, or more – cannot make Castiel anything less than he is.

You see, even when the stars fall, even should the pieces rain to Earth, it is still a star. It comes from the heavens, and is not of the Earth. Castiel, he falls, even loses his grace, but that is not a permanent condition. Look up, see the sky… still the stars are there, and so is Castiel.

Where would we be without the stars? Perhaps to those who don't understand, they're just pretty things flying up so high, but why would we need them? Think. See. Polaris, the guiding star, pointing those who wander in the proper direction, if they look to the skies and seek the help of stars. Castiel is guidance, the one who comes to help those who ask his help, the one who answers prayers.

If Sam is the moon, Castiel is the stars. You can't always see him, and even when you do, you can't possibly see _all _of him. The shadows of amazing wings, the fluttering of feathers unseen, the farthest reaches of the universe that are far from our knowing. We can only understand the stars to the extent that we see them, but our knowledge is limited and our wonder is vast. Angels… stars. Dancing in the night with purity and joy because they are stars, because they can. Watching over the Earth from lofty homes, burning orbs of energy that would blind those who get too close and look too hard.

Ever elusive, ever brilliant, ever on the brink of falling… Castiel is like the stars.

_Fin_


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